In the livestock industry productivity and profitability is reduced by animals which do not conceive each breeding season. With every breeding herd, it is important to maximize the asset utilization throughout the breeding cycle. Any female not falling pregnant, is in fact a non productive asset. Depending on oestrus cycle and bull availability, this can leave a female unproductive during an extended time period. The end result is lost revenue due to lost offspring production.
Known methods to monitor conception in a breeding herd include rounding up the animals and having a veterinary surgeon (Vet) perform a physical examination of every female animal, often called the “Palpation” method. The veterinary surgeon checks for swelling of the uterus and ovary. This can be a time consuming and costly task for both farmer and vet depending on the size of the herd being examined. Analysis of blood samples for progesterone can also be used to determine whether animals have conceived, this can also be time consuming and expensive.
Actions to increase the conception rate in a herd can involve either providing more conception opportunities for an animal or providing the conception opportunities at or around an optimal time in the oestrus cycle when the animal is most likely to conceive (in heat).
For example, to provide more conception opportunities a farmer can either reduce the roaming distance or increase the male to female ratio of the herd and simply let nature take its course. Each of these options increases the likelihood of a male animal being around a female animal when she is in heat, thereby potentially increasing the odds of a successful conception.
Determining when an animal is in heat can enable a farmer to bring the female animal into proximity with a male animal for natural breeding or artificially inseminate the animal at an optimum time. Artificial Insemination is traditionally used to guarantee a particular attribute of the male animal not owned by the farmer. It is still not totally effective with an approximate 50% conception rate. For the majority of farms, this approach is limited or impractical.
Known methods to determine when an animal is in heat include:                observation of the animals by the farmer to look for signs of heat, such as mounting of the animal by other animals, swelling or reddening of the vulva, mucus discharge, restlessness or aggressive behaviour, and shortened feeding time;        paint, chalk or dye marking which is traditionally seen in sheep herds, where the ram has a paint/chalk marker attached to the under belly, when the ram mounts a ewe a mark is left on the mounted ewe and can be observed by the farmer, the effectiveness of this method is dependent on the climate; and        mount detecting devices which are pressure sensitive devices glued to the back or rear of the female animal, when the animal is mounted by another the device changes colour or provides some other indication of the mounting which can then be observed by the farmer. All of these methods depend on some physical observation by the farmer and although the observation can detect when an animal is in heat, another check is required after mating or insemination to determine whether the animal has conceived. Whilst it can be determined whether an animal has conceived, it is difficult to determine how easily the animal conceived, for example how may times did the male need to service the female for her to become pregnant. Further, unless artificial insemination is used or there is only one fertile male animal in the herd, tracking of the parentage of the offspring can be difficult or impossible.        
There is a need for a system which enables a more reliable monitoring of the oestrus cycles and breeding activities of livestock.